814 KNOWING BIRDS THROUGH STORIES 



migrate at all it is only occasionally and for a short dis- 

 tance. They are smaller than any of the woodpeckers 

 and are not so brilliantly marked. The bill is more slen- 

 der, and you should have no trouble in identifying them 

 by this mark alone. 



Creepy and his wife hunted through our orchard, gar- 

 den, and yard until spring, when they decided that the 

 old willow tree that had proved their salvation in the win- 

 ter was the most satisfactory place for their summer home. 

 They selected a limb perhaps four inches in diameter 

 about twenty-five feet from the ground and began the work 

 of pecking a hole in it. They worked with a will and 

 made the chips fairly fly for three or four days. They 

 were a happy little pair, both working with a will, con- 

 gratulating each other every few moments. These birds 

 seemed even more expert at chiseling out a nest hole than 

 the woodpecker ; but, unfortunately for me, they made their 

 hole so small that my hand would not go into it. A rye 

 straw pushed in, however, showed that it was at least 

 fourteen inches deep. I do not know how many eggs these 

 birds laid, but five to eight is the usual number, and they 

 are of a pearly white color, slightly marked with lilac or 

 rusty yellow. 



No bird could have been a better husband than Creepy. 

 He was a hard worker, doing fully as much of the nest 

 making as his wife, fluttering over and hopping about her 

 while she worked. When the hole was several inches deep 

 and his wife was taking her turn at drilling he would peep 

 in with the greatest concern if she stayed too long, and 

 when she was sitting he remained near by to keep her from 

 becoming lonesome, not forgetting to feed her every little 

 while. When she left the nest for a little airing, he mani- 



